Early Lights
by magicaltragical
Summary: ***CHAPTER 2 POSTED/STORY COMPLETE*** A young Tami finds herself in an exciting situation at the worst possible time. Very pre-series. Rated T for a bit of language here and there.
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone. Here's 2-chapter Taylor family story that takes place pre-series (chapter 2 coming soon). Enjoy, and if you feel so inclined please leave a review!

 _Friday, February 7, 1992  
3:19 am  
Houston, TX_

For a moment, she doesn't really know what exactly woke her up. Then she notices an ache in her back; maybe that's it. It's really hot in this room and she kicks her leg out from under the covers. As she does so, her calf brushes a wet spot in the sheet. She was half awake before, but now her eyes shoot open.

No. No, no. It can't be. Not yet, it's too early for this. She doesn't sit up quite yet, because she thinks for a moment about what she should do. Maybe if she lies still where she is and doesn't move, this situation she's suddenly in will just go away. Maybe the pain in her back will die down and she'll go back to sleep and then she'll wake up later and realize this is a dream.

This is not when this is supposed to happen. She's not supposed to be having this type of pain until she's at home in a few days. Then it's okay. Still earlier than planned and definitely not ideal, but okay. But not here, not in a small hotel room where she's alone.

That is what terrifies her. She's alone in this room; there's no one here with her. Eric is supposed to be with her when this happens. But he isn't. And given what's happened this week, her mother would ideally be there too, but she isn't here either. She's utterly alone.

Another stab to her lower back sends Tami upright in the small hotel bed. She breathes heavily because she still isn't quite sure what to do. She places her hand gently on her engourged abdomen, wishing she could effectively communicate telepatically with the baby inside.

 _Please not yet,_ she wants to tell him. Or her. She and Eric agreed to let that part be a surprise. _Please stay in there just a little longer. I'm not ready. Your daddy isn't here. We cannot do this today._

She takes a deep breath through the pain of what she knows is definitely a contraction. _Calm down_ , the rational part of Tami's brain tells her. _This is not the end of the world. This baby is not going to be born in a hotel room, because you won't let it._

But the other part of Tami is very scared - more scared than she's ever been in her whole life. She's in labor and she's alone. She tries desparately to calm herself down, she knows getting worked up is not going to help this baby any. How long between contractions is she supposed to be before going to the hospital? Ten minutes? Five? Lord, she just needed somebody here with her right now. She shifts her legs under her again and she's reminded of the wet spot. Right. Her water must have broke. That probably means she should go to the hospital now.

How? She doesn't have a car with her but she knows she probably shouldn't drive herself anyway. At least she isn't very far away. Should she just walk there?

 _God, no_. It's half past three in the morning. What kind of crazy person walks six blocks down a busy street in the middle of the night to go to the hospital to have a baby? Is she nuts?

No, she's just in labor. But this should not be happening right now. Eric should be with her to drive her to the hospital like any other couple about to have a baby. Or at least given the circumstances, her mother should be there to drive both her _and_ Eric to the hospital. Or even possibly Eric's father. Who even knows. Everything happened so fast today that they haven't really worked out what would happen when Tami went into labor. Everyone was focused on other things today.

A cab. What about a cab? That should work. But she doesn't know the number of a cab company. Is there a phone book in this room? Tami finally turns on the lamp by her bedside. She starts going through the nightstand drawer, but comes up empty. The dresser? She looks there, too. Nothing.

Nothing in the closet, either. At this point, Tami can feel herself start to panic. How is she going to call a cab if she can't find a damn phone book? Tears well up in her eyes, and she feels another contraction hit. This does nothing to help her calm down.

She sits back on the bed, a sob bubbling up and escaping her throat. What should she even do?

Tami knows she can probably think harder and come up with another solution, but the pain and the exhaustion she was already experiencing from the stress of this whole damn day keeps her mind from clearing enough to think straight. All she wants at this point is a little comfort.

Without even really realizing what she's doing, Tami picks up the phone on the nightstand between the two hotel beds. She could dial 4-1-1, call information and get the number of a cab company. Or even hit that button for the front desk and they'll probably do it. But she doesn't do either of those things. Instead, she picks up the scrap of yellow paper that's laying haphazardly next to it and dials the number that was scrawled across it.

It rings five times before someone picks up. Tami is hit hard with yet another contraction while she waits, so she barely hears the voice answering on the other end as she breathes through it.

"'Lo?" she hears. It sounds like Eric. But it doesn't occur to her that it doesn't make much sense for it to be Eric.

"Eric?" she gasps.

"No, Tami," the voice on the other end says. "Eric's asleep. He's not going to be awake until tomorrow, remember? It's John."

Right. Eric's dad. That makes much more sense.

"Are you all right?" he's asking her.

"I don't know," she tells him. "I think I'm in labor. The baby's coming."

John doesn't answer her right away. There's a lengthy pause, followed by his quiet "oh. Shit."

Tami sniffs. "I'm not sure what to do," she admits. It pains her to admit that. She's supposed to be strong. Especially after today.

"Did you call a cab? Or maybe an amublance or something?" he asks her.

An ambulance? Yeah, it definitely did not occur to her to call an ambulance. And that would have made a scene. This is embarrassing enough. She's alone in a hotel room and she's in labor and she has no one here to help her.

"No," she says. "I didn't want to call an ambulance, and I don't have a phone number for a cab."

"Oh Tami," he says softly. She's never heard her father-in-law's voice be this gentle before. She's not sure if it's comforting, or if it's scaring her more. "You could have asked the front desk there to call you one, you know."

"I'm sorry," her voice cracks. "I wasn't thinking."

"Okay," he says. "It's okay. I will call you a cab." His voice is no longer as tender as it was, he now has a more take-charge tone, which right now Tami decides she actually finds more comforting. "Listen to me, Tami. It's going to be okay. I will call you a cab. I want you to take anything you have in that room that you might want with you at the hospital and pack it in a bag. And then go downstairs, and wait by the front door to the lobby for the cab. When you get to the hospital, I'll meet you at the entrance to the ER and I'll pay for the cab. Okay?"

This is good. A plan. She wishes more than anything that she had Eric with her, but if all she gets to have is a plan, she's willing to settle for that. "Yeah, I can do that. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Tami," John's deep voice assures her. "You're going to be fine. Eric's going to be pissed as hell to miss this, but you're all three going to be fine. I'll see you in a few minutes. I'm going to hang up now, so I can call a cab."

"Okay," she says, and she pulls the phone from her ear. She's hesitant to hang up. She feels so much better already after talking with Eric's dad. John Taylor's gruff and calm demeanor was exactly what she needed just now. And he's with Eric, too, so she's hesitant to sever that connection.

But she does; she hangs up the phone and chuckles to herself for a second. Wow, she just got really worked up. This is not that bad of a situation. She's being silly. She's just going to have a baby, something that happens to people all the time. She rubs both of her hands over her belly and smiles.

"That was your Gramps," she tells the baby inside. "And he's right about one thing. Your daddy is going to be very upset when he finds out you didn't wait for him to be able to be there when you came out." _Seriously. Why could you not have waited? Even just like another week?_ It's only the early morning now on February 7th. She's not due until the 24th. She already loves her baby more than life itself, but she can't help but be a little annoyed with her soon-to-be-born child at the moment.

She gets up off the bed. There's a full length mirror next the the room's standard-issue television. She's wearing her maternity nightgown. They'll probably make her put on a hospital gown, right? There's no sense putting on real clothes. She has a jacket. But it's February, and even in Texas it's cold, especially at night. Wait. Eric's coat is resting on the back of the desk chair where she'd tossed it when she'd checked in that previous afternoon. She is still surprised she grabbed it on her way out the door earlier that morning before she came to Houston in a rush. She figured Eric might need it in a few days when they were on their way back home to College Station.

She picks up his coat and puts it on. She can just barely zip his large coat over her pregnant belly. Bringing her arm up, she sniffs the sleeve. It smells like Eric, but that's only minimally comforting. A coat is a poor substitute for the man himself.

John recommended that Tami pack herself a bag. She shakes her head with mock amusement, thinking of the bag she already set up at home. It's sitting in her closet in the apartment she and Eric live in. She definitely did not think she would need that bag here. She doesn't really know what she can bring from her hotel room to the hospital. She grabs her toothbrush and toothpaste, she'll probably want to brush her teeth eventually. Maybe she should bring some clothes for after when she's discharged. So she puts her maternity sweats and a sweater into the backpack she had. What else? Her book, the one she'd purchased in the gift shop that afternoon when she'd been waiting forever. This baby could still take awhile. She might get bored.

There's nothing else she really has here that will help. She and Eric bought a baby blanket last week, but it's not like she has that here. Or any baby stuff. Oh hell, she doesn't even have the car seat. What is she going to do when she and her baby get out of the hospital? She has absolutely no baby stuff here.

Tami panics again with this latest realization. She's just absolutely not ready for this to happen today. She's completely unprepared. Already, she's failing her child. Why didn't she think about this? She's a couple weeks for her due date. Not totally unreasonable to think she could go into labor at any time and to be prepared. But she's not. She puts the backpack on the bed to zip it up and she can feel her eyes well with tears again. Maybe she'll feel better when she gets to the hospital. At least then she'll be where she's supposed to be when she's in labor.

Not bothering to put the backpack over her shoulders, Tami grabs the top handle and slips on her shoes. Her feet have been too swollen lately for her regular tennis shoes. And forget about bending down to tie shoelaces. Slip-ons and sandals is all she's wanted to put effort into wearing for awhile now.

She wipes her nose with Eric's coat sleeve, not really caring too much if she gets her snot on it as she walks towards the door. Almost as an afterthought, she remembers to grab the room key from the bathroom counter where she left it when she got back to the room earlier in the night. Stuffing it in Eric's coat pocket, she opens the door.

There is laughter in the hallway. She looks to her right as the door closes behind her and she sees two girls giggling as they fumbled to open the door. Tami guesses that they're probably drunk, if they're laughing and stumbling over themselves at nearly four in the morning. They look to be around her age, early twenties. She shakes her head in mild amusement. It's crazy how someone her age could be partying until the wee hours of the morning without a care in the world while she was off to the hospital to do what was probably the most important thing she'd ever do - give birth. Although she felt like she could certainly do with a nice stiff drink right about now.

Her face feels tear-stained, so she quickly scrubs at it with her hand before turning the opposite direction from the drunk girls to go towards the elevator. Wait. She's watched way too many movies and TV shows where the pregnant lady in labor gets stuck in an elevator. Her child is _not_ going to be born in a damn elevator. Better take the stairs.

She only makes it halfway down the hall before another contraction hits her hard. She has to drop the backpack on the floor while she bends over to breathe through it. As she does so, the fear hits her again. In the back of her mind, she's not sure what would go wrong. Her father-in-law has a taxi on the way for her. She's only a few blocks away from the hospital. She only has to make it through another fifteen minutes or so before she is safely at the hospital.

But goddamn, she has never wanted Eric to be by her side at any single moment more than she does right now. She feels very alone in this hotel hallway. She does not think she can do this. How is she going to be able to handle this? She won't even have Eric with her to help guide her through this, because he had to go and get himself hurt and put in the hospital just before their child was supposed to be born. Leaving her utterly alone in a strange hotel in a strange city completely unprepared for this.

The contraction subsided already, but Tami is practically sobbing again by this point. She knows part of the problem is just the stress of the previous 24 hours. That morning, she'd been working back in College Station at her part-time clerical job in the Texas A&M registrar's office. It was her last day before maternity leave. She'd run home at lunch to find a message on her machine from Houston Medical Center - which had her alarmed right from the start, because Houston is where Eric was as he attended some training camp for college football NFL-hopeful seniors.

Sure enough, Tami soon learned that Eric was one car in a five-car accident just outside of Houston on his way in. He never even made it to the damn camp. So instead of being here with her to help her birth their child, Eric is in the hospital with torn tendons in his right knee, a broken right foot, bruised ribs, and a concussion.

It's not his fault, and when she saw him earlier after he'd gotten out of surgery that afternoon, he was clearly in a lot of pain and her heart broke for him. It only makes her cry more to know how upset he will be that this accident is now causing him to miss the birth of his first-born child.

Tearfully, Tami grabs the backpack and continues down the hall. She glances behind her, silently thankful the hallway is empty. It would be so embarrassing if someone had seen her here, extremely pregnant and sobbing alone in a hotel hallway at four a.m.

When she gets to the stairwell, a wave of exhaustion hits her. She runs a hand through her hair and rubs her eyes. Okay, if this baby _has_ to come now while Eric is - well, unavailable - couldn't he or she have waited until morning and let her have a full night's sleep? She was tired when she left the hospital earlier. Once they gave Eric some pain meds that were sure to knock him out for the night, his father, who had come down to Houston from where he lived in Tyler when she called him that afternoon to tell him about the accident, had insisted she go back to the hotel to rest and he would stay with Eric overnight.

Luckily, her room is only on the second floor, so she is out of the stairwell heading to the lobby within a few more seconds. As she rounds the corner past the lobby, she still feels a little embarrassed about her situation so she hurries past the front desk as fast as her nine-month-pregnant belly will allow. She halfway notices that there's no one even at the desk; the night people are probably in the back at this point in the night.

She drags her backpack out the automatic door and looks around. There's no taxi. She feels the panic rise up a little again. It feels like she took forever to get down here. Did John not call her a cab? What should she do now?

Tami decides to wait two minutes, and if there's still no cab she'd go in and ask the front desk to call one for her. She's not having her baby at this hotel, no matter what. She shivers a little as she realizes that the hair close to her hairline was a little damp from sweat, but now she is outside in the chilly night air. She unceremoniously drops the backpack in front of her and wraps her arms around herself, again taking a small amount of comfort in the smell of Eric on his coat.

 _Oh, Eric._ She sighs. She misses him. He's just down the street, really, but she misses him. He's not here with her right now. She has to go have their baby without him. Maybe it's a little comforting to know he'll be in the same building, but instead of sitting by her side holding her hand while she pushes their child out of her hoo-ha, he'll be several floors above her sleeping through a haze of painkillers.

Suddenly, she feels terrible. She's been almost annoyed with him since she went into labor, as if it were his fault he's laid up in a hospital bed - as if he'd _chosen_ to be there instead of with her. For the millionth time in the past half hour, Tami starts to cry again.

She needs to buck up a little. She could have _lost_ Eric for heaven's sakes. He was in a serious accident today. He had nearly been killed. He could have died and then she _really_ would have been alone. She would not only have had to give birth alone, but then she'd have to raise the baby by herself and this child never would have known his or her daddy.

Again, she wipes her eyes with Eric's coat sleeve. She _could_ do this. She would survive giving birth alone. Eric will still be there for everything else. He will still get to see this baby grow up and he will still get to grow old with her. She's realizing now that in the big scheme of things, this is not the end of the world.

Where is this cab? She turns around, peering through the door of the hotel. No one's at the desk, still. But she could go and ring the bell; someone is surely in the back, right? She hopes a cab shows up before she has another contraction.

She wraps her arms protectively around her belly, and smiles a little looking down at it. It's time, apparently. She's becoming a mom today. Tami has thought about this moment so much over the past several months. She's thought about how she might have a daughter who she can teach to be a strong, loving, capable woman. Or maybe a son she can love and dote on, who will grow up to be a gentleman just like his father. She really has no preference which. She always used to think she'd rather have a daughter, but the minute it sank in that she was going to be a mother all those months ago, she realized she didn't care. She will love this baby to pieces no matter what. In fact, she already does.

And Eric - he's going to make such a wonderful father. He will have a daughter who will have him thoroughly wrapped around her finger and he will set an example of what a good, loving man should be. Or he'll have a son he can teach to play football and shave and other man things and be a role model for. Tami knows Eric doesn't really care what this baby turns out to be either. She knows that he already loves his child as well.

Boy, she sure has run the gamut of emotions tonight. For the first time since waking up to find her water broke, though, she feels like this might actually be okay. Even with Eric injured as he currently was.

She looks up as a light flashes in her face. It's headlights. The car rounds the corner and she sees that it's a taxi. It's about time. The car stops in front of her, and she opens the door to get in, smiling briefly at the cab driver.

As she sits in the taxi and it drives towards the hospital, she thinks more about Eric. And about what life might look like over the next few months. He wasn't going to be quite up to snuff for awhile. His leg was pretty severely injured, and her heart breaks about that. It hasn't been discussed yet, but she knows it spells the end of his football career. She knows that will crush him. At this point, it's been pretty much anyone's guess as to whether he'd get drafted by an NFL team or not. If he didn't, he may still have signed as a free agent or been invited to training camps. He's not exactly a number one prospect, but it's been a solid possibility that he'd make it to the pros.

Tami knows that sadly, that's probably not a real option anymore. His right leg got tangled up in wreckage, and it caused damage to both his knee and ankle that required emergency surgery to fix. The surgeon who worked on him yesterday afternoon made it clear that Eric will probably have a lot of rehab to go through.

The now-familiar pain appears again, and Tami is certain her contractions are getting really close together. She has not exactly been timing them (like she is pretty sure she should be) but she can just feel it in herself that it's not going to be too much longer now. A part of her hopes it happens quickly so that she can go to sleep. She knows she'll need it. With Eric laid up as he is - he's not even expected to be released from the hospital for two or three more days - he won't be much help.

Is she already a bad mother for thinking this? She hasn't even had her baby yet and she already wants a break. Just a little sleep. From what she knows about newborn babies, she smiles a little to herself because she knows that she hasn't even scratched the surface yet of how exhausting new motherhood will be.

She's breathing rhythmically through the contractions, and she sees the cab driver keep flashing a half-concerned, half-annoyed gaze at her through the rear view mirror. She smiles in attempt to reassure him. _No, asshole, I'm not going to have my baby right here in your cab_.

It takes just couple minutes to get to the hospital. It's now 4:12 in the morning, according to the clock on taxi meter.

When they pull up to the emergency room entrance, she sighs in relief to spot her father-in-law. Finally. Someone she knows. Someone who can take charge. She's never been so happy to see Eric's father in her life. She opens the door and gets out, barely remembering to grab the backpack.

Tami stands and waits while her father-in-law pays the cab driver. She wonders what will happen next. She realizes that not only will Eric not be in the room with her, but likely neither will anyone else. She cannot imagine Eric's father wanting to do that, and she's not sure how she'd feel about that either. Ideally, in this situation, she would want her mother there. Despite the differences and disagreements they often have, the woman is still her mother and it would be a comfort to have her here.

And she knows her mom would come. Maybe she'll ask John to call her while she's being admitted. Tami already spoke to her yesterday, she knows about Eric's accident and she's already planning to come out to College Station closer to Tami's due date to help out with the baby.

John finishes paying the cab driver and grabs her arm and begins to lead her toward the door. His quiet but commanding presence is a huge comfort right now. Tami is tired and growing increasingly afraid the closer and closer she gets. So she's perfectly happy to let go and let him take charge of the situation. He grabs the backpack from her and she lets go of that too.

At this point, she's exhausted and she has experienced way too many emotions in the past hour or so. As they step into the emergency room - where she'd burst into the previous afternoon after her husband had been rushed there - she feels, well, not exactly _ready_. But she feels ready to accept that her baby is coming now and not in a couple weeks. It's go time, and there's nothing she can do about that now.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

_Friday, February 7, 1992  
12:15 pm  
Houston Methodist Hospital - Houston, TX_

At this point, the lack of sleep is getting ridiculous. Tami doesn't know why she was dumb enough to not realize that they don't just magically let you sleep immediately after you have a baby. Which was fine for a little while, because at first she just wanted to hold her new daughter and stare at her because she is so perfect. But now she was ready for a nap but it just seemed like people just kept barging in to check on her or her baby or even to do nothing (or so it seemed).

Tami's daughter was born this morning at 6:30. She was barely at the hospital for two hours by then. From what she's read in baby books and such, she knows her labor went pretty quick. She is definitely okay with that. She is not one of those mothers who wanted some magical, natural birthing experience. Nothing wrong with women who do, Tami just didn't need that for herself. As far as she's concerned, the birth part doesn't matter as long as nothing goes wrong. She cares more about what happens from here on out, now that her daughter is a real person here in the world.

Her mom had arrived at the hospital at about 8:30 this morning. Nearly two hours after the baby was born, but there's no way she could have made it. She brought Shelly with her. Shelly, who still lives at home at nineteen and didn't go to college. Tami's glad she game, though. She feels like she can use all the help she can get right now.

The only thing bothering Tami is that her daughter has been in this world for nearly six hours now, and Eric still has yet to meet her. His father, bless his heart, did in fact stay with her. He apparently figured Eric was asleep so there was nothing he could do for his son anyway. He didn't exactly coach her through the birth, but he stood near her bedside and awkwardly faced the wall. Her amusement about that kept her oddly a little calmer during the worst of the delivery pain. Afterwards, and after her mom arrived, he went back up to Eric's room to check on him. He came back once after that to report that he was still asleep. Tami's not even sure if her husband knows he's a father yet.

And Tami refuses to legally give her daughter a name until Eric knows she's been born. They've toyed with some ideas for boy and girl names, but they haven't settled on anything for sure and she is not about to decide without him now.

Baby Girl Taylor is slumbering away in a bassinet next to her bed. Tami looks at her daughter with envy; why can't she sleep like that? She was given a choice a little bit ago to send the baby to the nursery or to keep her here for a bit. Her mom and sister went to get some lunch and John is upstairs now with Eric. Tami thought she'd feel lonely, especially without Eric, so she opted to keep the baby in here. So far, she's been pretty quiet.

Hopefully her mom or Shelly will think to bring her something to eat. She's absolutely starving. Giving birth takes a lot out of a person, and can seriously work up an appetite. She hasn't eaten since last night.

Suddenly there's a hand on her shoulder. She flinches, not realizing anyone is in the room with her. Did she fall asleep? Only now is she realizing her eyes are closed. She must have dozed off.

"Tami," a deep voice calls softly to her. She opens her eyes and sees her father-in-law standing above her.

"Hey," he continues when he sees she is awake. "I brought you something." Her first thought is food. Did he bring her a burger? She remembers vaguely telling him somewhere in that brief time between arriving at the hospital and the baby coming out of her that she was hungry and a big, juicy cheeseburger would really hit the spot.

But no, he did not bring her a cheeseburger. That's okay, though, because when she sits up she sees that he brought her something much better.

Eric.

Her eyes well with tears when she sees him. He's sitting a little ways behind his father, in a wheelchair with his injured leg propped up. He has an IV pole next to him - she can't imagine how they managed to maneuver that down with him from his room - that's probably still pumping narcotic pain killers into him. It is a little chilly here so she's glad to see that he's got his A&M football hoodie on over his hospital gown.

But most importantly, he's looking at her with clear eyes, despite the drugs. She can see a slight hint of tears in his normally stoic gaze and there's a quality of desperation in his expression. His eyes are boring right into hers and she smiles tearfully.

"Sweetheart," she breathes. "I didn't think they'd let you come down here today. I was going to see later if I could come to you and bring the baby."

"They weren't gonna," he replies softly, a small twinkle in his eyes. She loves how expressive his eyes are. He doesn't have as much of a poker face as he thinks he does, because no matter how expressionless he may try to keep his face his eyes always betray him. "So I got a little pissed off."

John snorts from where he now stands beside Eric, which makes Tami giggle.

"They didn't want to mess with me anymore," Eric smiles, "so they gave up and let me come down here."

She sits up and lets her legs hang off the side of the bed so she faces Eric. Her baby is behind her by the window. "How're you feeling, hon?"

Eric's smile fades but only a little. "I'm a'right. Head's a little fuzzy, I'm a little bit sore, but I'm okay. I am so, so sorry I missed this." Now Tami's husband was not smiling anymore; instead, he looked very sad.

"Oh, honey," she tells him, "it's okay. It's not at all your fault you weren't here." As upset as she had been back at the hotel, she does not blame him one iota for missing the birth of their child. She looks at him and he looks weary and pained. The birth part is over, she doesn't care that he wasn't there. She's just so very thankful that he's here now, and that he is alive and ready to be a part of his child's life. Their child that they will raise together.

She figures she should have him meet the baby now quickly so he can go back to his room to get some rest. Tami knows wild horses could not have dragged Eric away from visiting her at some point today, but damn. He just had surgery yesterday. He needs to rest and recover. So does she, really. As she stands up she realizes how sore she is.

"Babe, you want to meet your daughter?" As she asks him, she sees his eyes light up once more. His mouth slowly spreads to a smile. She thinks again that she maybe sees tears forming in his eyes.

"I didn't tell him it's a girl yet," John tells her. That explains it. Eric is just now finding out that he is a father specifically to daughter.

"A little girl," Eric whispers, that twinkle back in his eyes. "I've got a daughter."

Tami, by way of response, hops off the bed and goes around to the other side to the bassinet where their daughter still sleeps. She stirs a little when Tami picks her up, but she continues to doze. She turns around; Eric's gaze is following her every move with intensity and eventually it slides from her face down to the bundle in her arms.

He reaches his arms out, ready to accept her, but Tami hesitates.

"I don't know if you should hold her just yet, hon," she tells him. "Your ribs are bruised. I don't want to hurt you."

Eric's face turns sour. "I don't give a damn," he whispers. "This is my daughter, Tami. I'm going to hold my daughter."

Her face softens. She supposes he's already sore, if she hands the baby to him gently he'll be a little extra sore but what does that matter, really, in the long run? Gingerly, she sets the baby down in her husband's outstretched arms.

"I'll give ya'll some privacy," John says from behind Eric. Tami almost forgot he was there and she gives him a small smile as he slips out.

Eric grimaces as he shifts their daughter's weight around in his arms. He stares at her wordlessly; it seems the two of them are in their own world together as Tami watches them. She finds a chair from her own bedside and pulls it up next to Eric and sits down.

A small smile starts to break on Eric's face. She loves that particular smile. Sure, she loves the rare occasions when he breaks out a wide, toothy grin. But there's something about this subtle smile that melts her almost as much. It's a quiet little smile he gets when he is calm and contented – like things are going right with his world and he just wants to enjoy it without a fuss. She looks down at their beautiful daughter and she can't help but grin a little as she slips an arm around Eric's shoulders.

She can't see his face now, but she can feel his smile grow a little. "She's amazing," he whispers, and he leans over to kiss the top of her head. "She looks beautiful, and she looks like her mama."

"She has her daddy's eyes, though," she tells him. "You'll see them soon, I'm sure. But the girl sure can sleep."

"You haven't named her yet, have you?" he asks.

She leans her head on his shoulder. "Of course not. I would never do that without you. Even if they didn't let you see her for three days, she'd stay 'Baby Girl Taylor' for as long as it took."

"Well, thank God it didn't take that long." The baby's eyes begin to flutter a little, and Eric tenses expectantly beside her.

They're silent, for a few moments, this new family. The girl stirs in her father's arms and eventually, her tiny eyes peek through the lids. Tami smiles as she watches the baby's mouth move upwards too as her unfocused gaze drifts up to her father. Is that a smile? Can she even smile? Don't they have to be a certain age first?

Eric chuckles quietly. "Hey little one," he whispers to her. "I'm your daddy." He takes his index finger and wiggles her bottom lip. "I'm sorry about that, by the way. Hopefully you'll be more smart and graceful like your mother. Hopefully you'll grow to be more like her than me. And I'm sorry I wasn't here when you were born but I'm not goin' anywhere from here on out."

Tami laughs quietly. "Don't worry hon, it's more her fault than yours for comin' early and comin' the day after you have surgery instead of waitin' a couple more weeks like she's supposed to."

"Oh, you're a troublemaker, huh?" Eric's tone is playful, and he has that twinkle in his eyes again. "Boy this is gonna be fun, huh? You're too young to be rebellin' against us already." The baby stares blankly up at him. "Well, that's alright. Just don't go strayin' too far, okay? Your mama and I love you. Yes, we do. And you know what, kid? You need a name, that's what you need."

"Yes, she does," Tami agrees. She reaches over with her left hand and places it on the baby's head. "So which of the names we talked about did you decide you liked best?"

"None of 'em," Eric says. "I don't like any of 'em. They don't suit her. And let me tell you, when my dad told me she'd come today and I was lyin' in my room waiting for him to convince someone to let me come down here, I got to thinkin'." He pauses to look back down at their daughter, rubbing his giant finger over her tiny ones, one at a time. "How would you feel about naming her after my mother?"

Tami lifts her head off of his shoulder. Of course. His mother. The woman she never got to meet, because she'd been killed in a car accident when Eric was twelve. He doesn't talk about her all that much, but when he does it's clear how much he misses her. It's clear how wonderful of a woman she was.

"Julie," Tami whispers the name. She realizes that with Eric being in an accident yesterday, it must have made him think about her a lot.

"Julie," he repeats, tapping the baby's chest with his finger. He looks back up at her with that small, quietly content smile again. "And we could middle name her after your mother. After all, she did drop everything to come out here this morning."

"Elizabeth," she whispers again. She and Eric are gazing into each other's eyes now. "Julie Elizabeth Taylor."

"Julie Elizabeth Taylor," he once again repeats. He smiles wider again, down at the baby.

"I really like that," she tells him. "Julie Taylor. Julie Elizabeth Taylor. It's perfect."

"Julie Elizabeth Taylor it is, then," he declares. He lightly pokes the baby's cheek. "You like that name."

The newly-named baby Julie gurgles a bit and her tiny arm waves around, whacking into Eric's arm in the process, making the new father laugh.

Tami leans her head back on Eric's shoulder and just watches Julie. She's so incredibly adorable and perfect, and Tami can't get enough of her. It's weird though, because as enamored as she is with her brand new daughter, she is terrified that she'll be a terrible mother.

She turned twenty-three this past November. Sometimes she feels that she's practically a child still herself. Definitely not qualified to raise a child. And Eric is a year behind her and his birthday is still a few weeks away - so he's still only twenty-one. He's still in college. And Tami just graduated two months ago. They have no money.

These are worries that have plagued Tami off and on for months. She'd hoped they'd go away when she had the baby, but they haven't. She still worries. Her mother told her earlier this morning that those worries don't really ever go away. Her mother had said that any parent worth anything would always worry if they were doing a good enough job for their child. She looks at Julie's innocent face.

At least she has Eric, she thinks. He is sitting there playing with her fingers and making dumb faces at her and it makes her want to laugh.

"I wonder if she's ticklish," he says after a moment. With a devilish smile that melts Tami's heart, he slowly reaches a finger around towards Julie's onesie-covered foot. He very lightly pokes the bottom of her tiny foot and rubs his finger up and down. Julie seems oblivious.

"Honey, I don't think babies are ticklish," Tami tells him. "I think that's something that develops later. I think I read that somewhere."

"Come on now," Eric argues, still stroking Julie's foot with a feather light touch. "Their nervous systems are fully developed when they're born, right? How could they not be ticklish now and then become ticklish later? That doesn't make sense."

As if to punctuate his point, Julie's foot suddenly jerks away from his touch. Eric laughs deeply, but then grimaces. His ribs must hurt.

Tami sits up straight and looks at him. During this peaceful moment they've just had, she'd nearly forgotten he was injured. "You all right?"

Eric doesn't even acknowledge the question. "You know what? I like her." He nods down towards the baby. Tami knows he's ignoring her and the situation. "Kid seems funny. I think we can keep her."

Tami has to admit, she doesn't want to acknowledge Eric being in pain either, because that would mean he'd have to leave soon and rest and she doesn't want him to. So she plays along. "Well I'm so glad she has your stamp of approval, hon, because I carried her around inside of me for nine long months so it would have really been a shame if now you decided you wanted to trade her in for a better model."

Eric chuckles again, and once again he can't hide the subsequent wince. They're all quiet for a moment, with Eric and Julie having a staring contest and Tami watching.

"I can't believe I missed it," Eric whispers after awhile.

"Eric-" Tami starts to say, but Eric cuts her off.

"No, I know," he says. "I know, you're not mad I missed it and you don't blame me, but maybe _I'm_ mad that missed it. First important moment in our kid's life and I wasn't there. I'll never get that back."

"Maybe," Tami says, placing her arm around his shoulders and leaning her head on him again. "But you know what, babe? Julie and I could have lost you forever yesterday. But we didn't. So I'd rather think about all the important stuff in her life that now you _will_ be around for. And that's what'll matter to her. She won't remember today. But she'll know you're there as she grows up and has you around. And I think that's more important. Besides, maybe we'll have another one someday and you'll be there for that and you'll see you didn't miss too much other than me yellin' and screamin' a bunch. And then suddenly, there's a baby."

Eric chuckles a little, so she knows her pep talk was at least a little bit successful.

"Wish I could have been there for _you¸_ though," he tells her. "And I don't know how much help I can be for awhile."

Tami shrugs. She has thought about that. It's part of why her mom was going to come for awhile when the baby was still not expected to come for a few more weeks. And not only was there Julie to take care of, but Eric will probably have to grudgingly accept a little help himself. He'll be off his feet for quite a long time.

She looks at him and strokes his hair. "We'll make it work." And they will. Eric's concern about the situation reinforces her belief that he'll be an amazing, caring father.

They would indeed make it work, she had no doubts about that. They were all here, and that was all that really mattered. And Tami couldn't be happier then to just be _here_ , in this room right now, with her husband and her daughter. Her own little family. She wasn't naïve, she knew they were in for quite a ride, both in the short term and the long term, but she loved both of these two people with every fiber of her being. She looked forward to their lives, good times and bad.

She knew Eric would have to leave her and go back to his room in just a few minutes, but she decided to ignore that for now. She leans her head back on his shoulder and just enjoys this moment.

That's the end, thank you for reading! Leave a review if you feel like it.


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